By Chris Oddo | Wednesday November 14, 2018
One of the greatest shotmakers in the history of tennis is hanging up the racquet.
Agnieszka Radwanska, 29, has announced her retirement from tennis.
“I am no longer able to play and train the way I used to,” Radwanska wrote in a statement, and recently my body can’t live up to expectations. Taking into consideration my health and the heavy burdens of professional tennis, I have to concede that I’m not able to push my body to the limits required."
The Pole won 20 titles and reached the quarterfinals or better at 12 majors. She owns 594 career wins and earned over $27 million in prize money.
But more than anything Radwanska was considered a shotmaker, and one of the best tennis has ever seen. Dubbed the “Ninja,” the Krakow native was a magician with the racquet and played a creative, improvisational brand of tennis that regularly flummoxed the tour’s biggest hitters.
One of her greatest shots has been immortalized on YouTube and is approaching the 4 million view mark.
There are countless other YouTube tributes to her brilliant shotmaking past. Radwanska employed of a rare brand of counterpunching, and helped pioneer a squat shot, where her knees hit the ground as she deflected her opponent’s power, regularly.
“Nobody did more from compromised positions than Aga,” wrote Christopher Clarey of the New York Times on Twitter.
Speaking in London at the World Tour Finals, Novak Djokovic expressed surprise upon hearing the news of Radwanska’s retirement.
“I didn't see that coming,” he said. “I wish her the best in all her future endeavors. I remember her as one of the smartest women's tennis players I have seen. She anticipated so well the play of her opponents.”
Radwanska, married in 2017 to Dawid Celt, has recently started an entrepreneurial adventure in Krakow—Aga Tenis Apartments. The boutique hotel has a tennis theme and allows guests to celebrate the storied career of Radwanska. Rooms are fashioned after different tour stops and are sprinkled with memorabilia from her career.
“Tennis is and always has been special in my life,” Radwanska wrote in her statement to fans today. “But now it’s time for new challenges, new ideas, equally as exciting as those on the tennis court, I hope.”